The PHA community is a network of people with diverse backgrounds and experiences living their best lives. PHA highlights those experiences through inspiring first-person stories in our Right Heart Blog.
Kim Everett has lived with lupus for over 40 years and pulmonary arterial hypertension for over 20. For Lupus Awareness Month, she shares her diagnosis journey and advice for navigating life with chronic illnesses.
Jenna Olitsky of Orange County, California, began blogging about health and travel after she was diagnosed with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia-related pulmonary hypertension. She shares her diagnosis journey during HHT Awareness Month.
Diagnosis & treatment
Rachel Gabbert Roberts was 30 when she was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension in 2010. Since then, she has learned to listen to her body and have a positive outlook on life.
As the moderator of a PHA Facebook group, Janessa Curnow, 38, receives requests to join the group from people all over the world. For World Pulmonary Hypertension Day on May 5, Curnow shares what she’s learned from the international PH community. Curnow leads the PHA Young Adult Support Group and previously led the PHA Grand Rapids Support Group in Michigan.
Carole Doody's passion, playing the bagpipes, saved her life. When she no longer could play the right tones or march, Doody knew something was wrong. Fifteen years after her PH diagnosis, the retired speech-language pathologist volunteers for PHA. She shares her story in honor of National Volunteer Week, which wraps up April 26.
Lauri Stanfield of Tomball, Texas, received the gift of life in 2015 through a double lung transplant – and gave life by donating parts of her lungs for research. Stanfield, who works in the oil industry, likes to try new things and is weighing whether to learn pickle ball.
Over the past 24 years, Sophia Esteves of San Antonio has found strength and community through the Pulmonary Hypertension Association. Last year, PHA named Esteves its 2024 Outstanding Support Group Leader. Esteves shares her story as the face of PHA’s spring fundraising campaign and in the upcoming issue of Pathlight magazine.
Jaylin Binkley, a first-year student at Indiana University-South Bend, is majoring in radiography and exercise science. The 19-year-old is on her college cheer team, participates in pageants and competes in 4-H, a youth program to learn about science, agriculture and civic engagement. She developed PH as a baby and relies on subcutaneous treprostinil.
Four years ago, Teresa Bailey underwent an echocardiogram for a chronic cough. During the procedure, the sonographer asked who was treating Bailey’s PH. Bailey had never heard of pulmonary hypertension, nor knew that doctors suspected it during a previous thyroidectomy. Since then, Bailey has received a definitive diagnosis and is improving with treatment and pulmonary rehab. She shares how she’s making up for lost time in PHA’s Right Heart Blog.
